Rose Sentenced to 5 Months For Filing False Tax Returns

By CLAIRE SMITH, Special to The New York Times

Published: July 20, 1990

CINCINNATI, July 19—
Pete Rose, baseball's career hit leader, was sentenced today to five months in a Federal correctional institution for filing false income-tax returns.

The sentence does not permit parole, so Mr. Rose will serve the full term.

The sentence, handed down by Judge Arthur S. Spiegel of United States District Court, also requires that Mr. Rose serve three months in a community treatment center or halfway house, pay a $50,000 fine and serve 1,000 hours of community service. Mr. Rose said he would not appeal. Manner Is Subdued ''I accept my punishment,'' he said in a statement released late this afternoon. ''I will serve my sentence, pay my debt to society and get on with my life.'' The maximum term to which he could have been sentenced was three years (and a $250,000 fine) on each of the two counts.

Mr. Rose, who left an indelible impression on baseball as much for his confident, cocky demeanor as for his long list of records and achievements, including his record 4,256 hits, appeared visibly shaken earlier, even before he learned the result of his having pleaded guilty to two felony tax charges on April 20.

Already banned from baseball because of gambling allegations, he listened, his face flushed, as Judge Spiegel explained to the filled-to-capacity courtroom the reasoning behind his decision.

''We must recognize that there are two people here: Pete Rose, the living legend, the all-time hit leader, and the idol of millions; and, Pete Rose, the individual, who appears today convicted of two counts of cheating on his taxes,'' the judge said. ''Today, we are not dealing with the legend. History and the tincture of time will decide his place among the all-time greats of baseball. With regard to Pete Rose, the individual, he has broken the law, admitted his guilt, and stands ready to pay the penalty.''

Given an opportunity to speak before pronouncement of the sentence, Mr. Rose, who is 49 years old, addressed Judge Spiegel. Flanked by his legal team, he said: ''I would like to say that I am very sorry. I am very shameful to be here today in front of you.''

His voice quavering as he stood at a podium wringing his hands, he continued in a halting delivery: ''I think I'm perceived as a very aggressive, arrogant type of individual. But I want people to know that I do have emotion. I do have feelings, and I can be hurt like everybody else. And I hope no one has to go through what I went through the last year and a half. I lost my dignity. I lost my self-respect. I lost a lot of dear fans and almost lost some very dear friends.''

Sentences Are Concurrent

Moments later, Judge Spiegel handed down two five-month sentences, one for each count. The sentences are to run concurrently, without possibility of parole.

The judge also ordered that after the five months in prison, Mr. Rose must serve three months in a community treatment center or a halfway house as part of a one-year supervised release.

The judge said Mr. Rose's community service must include at least 20 hours a week during his supervised release. The judge designated inner-city elementary schools as well as a Cincinnati boys club as the sites where Mr. Rose must serve his thousand hours.

Therapy to Continue

Judge Spiegel ordered Mr. Rose to continue to receive psychiatric help for what Mr. Rose has come to describe as a gambling addiction. Mr. Rose must continue the therapy until medical officials deem it no longer necessary, the judge ordered. Mr. Rose was also fined $50,000, charged a total of $100 in special assessments, and ordered to pay the cost of his prosecution, confinement and supervision.

The judge recommended that Mr. Rose serve his five-month sentence at the Ashland, Ky., Federal Correctional Institution Camp. Ashland is about 160 miles southeast of Cincinnati, where Mr. Rose was born and raised and played the better part of his 24-year major league career.

The judge gave Mr. Rose a stay of the sentence so Mr. Rose could have surgery on a knee he injured when playing ball at his wife's family reunion in Indiana last weekend. Mr. Rose must report to Ashland by midday Aug. 10, unless the court gives permission for further medical leave.

Banned by Giamatti

The judge said that only time would tell if Mr. Rose will ever be restored to his former position of honor in baseball. More specifically, only the baseball commissioner, Fay Vincent, will determine if Mr. Rose will be allowed to return to the game's official family.

Last Aug. 24, Mr. Vincent's predecessor, A. Bartlett Giamatti, banned Mr. Rose, then the manager of the Reds, from baseball for life after completing an investigation of allegations that Mr. Rose bet on baseball games. Mr. Rose was eligible to apply for reinstatement after a year - the eligibility date would be Aug. 24 - but has indicated he will not do so.

Mr. Rose will have to wait a year and a half to learn if the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, who vote on inductees to the Hall of Fame, will see fit to vote him into the hall. Mr. Rose is eligible to appear on the ballot for the first time in December 1991.